(3) If the person named as the registered owner of a vehicle in the current records of the Department of Transportation fails to respond to a citation issued under subsection (1) of this section, a default judgment under ORS 153.102 (Entry) may be entered for failure to appear after notice has been given that the judgment will be entered.

(4) A rebuttable presumption exists that the registered owner of the vehicle was the driver of the vehicle when the citation was issued and delivered as provided in this section.

(5) A person issued a citation under subsection (1) of this section may respond to the citation by submitting a certificate of innocence or a certificate of nonliability under subsection (7) of this section or any other response allowed by law.

(7)(a) A registered owner of a vehicle may respond by mail to a citation issued under subsection (1) of this section by submitting, within 30 days from the mailing of the citation, a certificate of innocence swearing or affirming that the owner was not the driver of the vehicle and by providing a photocopy of the owner’s driver license. A jurisdiction that receives a certificate of innocence under this paragraph shall dismiss the citation without requiring a court appearance by the registered owner or any other information from the registered owner other than the swearing or affirmation and the photocopy. The citation may be reissued only once, only to the registered owner and only if the jurisdiction verifies that the registered owner appears to have been the driver at the time of the violation. A registered owner may not submit a certificate of innocence in response to a reissued citation.

(b) If a business or public agency responds to a citation issued under subsection (1) of this section by submitting, within 30 days from the mailing of the citation, a certificate of nonliability stating that at the time of the alleged violation the vehicle was in the custody and control of an employee or was in the custody and control of a renter or lessee under the terms of a motor vehicle rental agreement or lease, and if the business or public agency provides the driver license number, name and address of the employee, renter or lessee, the citation shall be dismissed with respect to the business or public agency. The citation may then be reissued and delivered by mail or otherwise to the employee, renter or lessee identified in the certificate of nonliability.

(9) A registered owner or an employee, renter or lessee against whom a judgment for failure to appear is entered may move the court to relieve the owner or the employee, renter or lessee from the judgment as provided in ORS 153.105 (Relief from default judgment) if the failure to appear was due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect. [1999 c.851 §2; 2001 c.104 §305; 2001 c.474 §2; 2001 c.535 §30a; 2003 c.14 §493; 2003 c.339 §3; 2005 c.686 §2; 2007 c.640 §2; 2017 c.288 §5]

2 OregonLaws.org contains the con­tents of Volume 21 of the ORS,
inserted along­side the per­tin­ent statutes.
See the preface to the ORS An­no­ta­tions for more information.

3 OregonLaws.org assembles these lists by analyzing references between Sections. Each
listed item refers back to the current Section in its own text. The result reveals
relationships in the code that may not have otherwise been apparent.

Stay Connected

Committed to Public Service

We will always provide free access to the current law.
In addition, we provide special support
for non-profit, educational, and government users.
Through social entre­pre­neurship,
we’re lowering the cost of legal services and increasing
citizen access.